The present invention relates to methods and devices of locating two endpoint connectors (such as RJ45) of a network cable, and more particularly, to a cable built-in with the function of locating two endpoint connectors of a network cable.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional intranet. By an external network 103, a user of external endpoint 101 logs in to an enterprise-oriented network linking device 106 functioning as a demilitarized zone (DMZ) 105. The network linking device 106 is adapted to control the direction of the flow of network packets and thus comes in the form of an exchanger, a bridge, or a router. Conventional network security apparatuses, such as a firewall, an intrusion detection system (IDS), and an intrusion prevention system (IPS), can be disposed in the DMZ 105 and coupled to the network linking device 106. For the framework of the network linking device 106, refer to Cisco's exchanger products, such as Cisco Catalyst 3550 Series Switch. An internal network resource 107 is not restricted to specific appliances or servers. The internal network resource 107 comprises a plurality of appliances, servers, or a combination thereof, whose quantity is not restrictive of the prior art. For example, the internal network resource 107 represents a local area network (LAN). Appliances, which are also known as Internet appliances, are built-in with networking capability and comprise devices with a specific function. Unlike general-purpose computer devices, appliances are designed in accordance with specific purposes or specific services in order to perform specific transactions and thus are highly efficient.
The internal network resource 107 is a virtual local area network (VLAN). Given internal resources of an enterprise or organization, a network engineer can perform logical grouping of the appliances in different physical LANs by VLAN technology to provide complete information security.
To ensure the security of its internal data, an enterprise or organization typically adopts a virtual private network (VPN) and thus provides a virtual private network server in the DMZ 105 whereby a user accesses internal resources by an external connection. The virtual private network server is coupled to the network linking device 106. The user of the external endpoints 101 has to log in to the virtual private network server; then, after the user has been authenticated and licensed, the virtual private network server gets linked to the network linking device 106 through the VPN. In some embodiments, the virtual private network server is not required, and thus the user of the external endpoints 101 does not necessarily rely upon the VPN in order to link the network linking device 106 to the internal network resource 107. The other hardware components (not shown) and software components (not shown) (such as an additional computer system, router, firewall) can be disposed in the external network 103 disposed between the virtual private network server (or the network linking device 106) and the external endpoints 101.
To ensure the security of its internal data and the security of network communication, an enterprise or organization typically provides network security policies, for example, security apparatus, such as a firewall, an antivirus software, an intrusion detection system (IDS), or an intrusion prevention system (IPS), at an internal endpoint linked to an intranet. The internal endpoint is a host computer (such as a router, a workstation, or a server) or a data circuit-terminating equipment (DCE) (such as a bridge or an exchanger).
It is usually intricate to effectuate the wiring of cables in a network environment nowadays. Due to the complexity of network environments, network cable management is the most difficult and complicated issue which confronts administrators. When a user moves or a network appliance is to be upgraded or changed, the administrators usually discover that network cables are entangled together and thus find it difficult to manage the actual locations of cable endpoints and network appliances. It is likely that a network cable is also linked to two network ports located at different racks, different rooms, different stories, or even different buildings. When a cable is inserted into a network port on a network appliance, it is difficult for the administrators to identify the whereabouts of the other end of the cable. A packet is likely to get lost when its journey covers different networks, different stories, or even different buildings, because it involves different network appliances (such as routers or exchangers.) Therefore, it is difficult for the administrators to find the linked network appliances disposed at the other end of the cable. Hence, it is usually a tough job to locate two endpoint connectors of a network cable.
A conventional solution entails attaching tags to two endpoint connectors of a network cable, respectively. However, the solution based on the paired tags fails to solve existing problems. For example, assumed that there are 10 racks in a server room and the racks each comprise 20 machines. If the administrator wants to find another related endpoint connector of a cable linked to a specific network port, the administrator can only check an endpoint tag of every cable manually until the administrator finds the endpoint connectors of cables with identical tags.
Accordingly, it is advantageous to provide a simple and effective solution of locating two endpoint connectors of a network cable.